Light Crafts Releases LightZone 2.2.1By
Mike Pasini, The Imaging Resource
(Wednesday, March 7, 2007 - 09:53 EST)Version 2.2 makes some major changes to the Zone System-based image editing software.Light Craft has updated LightZone, its cross-platform image editing software based on the Zone System to version 2.2.1. The minor update fixes a bug that prevented saving or exporting images to disks other than the system/boot disk. But the 2.2 update adds a number of new features and fixes.

According to the release notes, those include:

New Mac OS X Requirement

• Java 1.5 Release 5 is now required. If you have not already updated to it, get it by selecting Software Update from the Apple menu.

New Features

• You can now rate your photos.

• Raw conversion has been improved.

• Orientation changes (and ratings) are now stored in sidecar XMP files for interoperability with other applications.

• In previous versions of LightZone, orientation information was stored in a LightZone database. To preserve the orientation of photos you've already rotated, the first time your browse a folder with LightZone 2.2, it will create a new sidecar XMP file for every photo in that folder that's been rotated using LightZone's browser. If the folder is read-only, no XMP files can be created so orientation information will be lost for photos in that folder.

• Printer settings are now saved with your work so you can easily reproduce prints.

• The user interface has a darker and all-gray appearance to reduce color distractions.

Camera Support

• Nikon D40 raw files are now supported.

Fixes

• All known printing problems have been fixed.

• Fixed a problem where rotating a photo would also rotate all saved versions derived from that photo.

• Fixed a compatibility problem between sidecar TIFF files created by LightZone and opening them in other applications.

• Fixed a crash with some display color profiles.

• Fixed artifacts with the noise reduction and Tone Mapper tools.

Other Changes

• Performance on computers having Intel (or compatible) processors has been improved.

• The way preview images are generated has changed. The first time you click on a thumbnail, it may take several seconds for the preview to appear.

• XMP metadata embedded inside JPEG files is now read.

• The browser menu previously available only via right/control click has been given its own menu in the menu bar.

• You can now edit a photo simply by clicking on its preview image.

• The behavior of the "eye" button that shows the before and after versions of your photo has changed: you now need to click and hold the button to see the before version.

• Support for PNG images has been removed.

Downloads

The latest version can be downloaded from the Light Crafts download page. The 13.5-MB Mac version and 26.7-MB Windows version are free updates for registered users.